Ninh Binh women start creative businesses with breakthrough success

Starting a business for the "weaker sex" always poses opportunities but also many difficulties and challenges. However, with their own efforts, family support and the help of the Women's Union at all levels, many women in the province have overcome gender biases and barriers and successfully started a business.

In the days before Tet, the homestay "Trang An my hometown" in Noi village (Ninh Xuan commune, Hoa Lu district) is always bustling with guests. The phone of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, the homestay owner, is constantly ringing. Those are calls from guests booking rooms and food services during the holidays. Ms. Lan said: "I started my business from scratch. The only thing I have to create success in the homestay business today is the wholehearted support of my family and the support and companionship of the Women's Union at all levels".

Previously, Ms. Lan and her husband worked for hire at restaurants and hotels in the province. Life was not abundant but it was enough to eat and wear. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the tourism industry stopped operating for a long time, accompanying services were paralyzed, workers, especially freelancers like her and her husband, lost their jobs. In 2019, she discussed with her husband how to change their livelihood. Taking advantage of the house being near the mountain, with a temperate climate, warm winters and cool summers, and close to famous tourist areas of the province, Ms. Lan and her husband decided to apply for a business license for accommodation services. "When it came to implementation, my family's biggest difficulty at the moment was the lack of capital. But thanks to the support of the Women's Union at all levels, I was given the opportunity by the Social Policy Bank to borrow capital from the Employment Program, along with borrowing from relatives and family savings, I was able to partially cover the cost of purchasing raw materials," Lan confided.

After 3 years of hard work, Lan's family's homestay officially started operating in January 2022. At first, there were only a few groups of guests, but through social networks like Facebook and Zalo, more guests learned about her family's homestay. Gradually, the homestay "Trang An, my hometown" is always full, especially on weekends, holidays, and Tet. It is estimated that Lan's family welcomes more than 1,000 guests each year. The average income after deducting expenses is estimated at 30 million VND/month, peaking at 50-60 million VND/month, helping her family have a stable life and be proactive in their work.

Ninh Binh women start creative businesses with breakthrough success — Homestay of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan's family, Ninh Xuan commune (Hoa Lu). Photo: Giang Huong

Also a female owner, Ms. Mai Thi Hue (Gia Vuong commune, Gia Vien district) chose a traditional product that has existed for hundreds of years to start her business. Coming from a family with many generations of conical hat makers, since she was a 6 or 7 year old girl, Ms. Hue has mastered some steps in the hat making process. Growing up like many other women in the village, Ms. Hue continues to stick with the profession. However, Ms. Hue realized that although the profession brought income to the women during the off-season, it was not stable and the efficiency was not high. After many years of struggling, with the support of the Women's Union at all levels, Ms. Hue decided to establish the Conical Hat Making Cooperative Group in Village 1, Gia Vuong commune. Instead of each household finding their own materials, doing all the steps in the hat production process, and finding their own outlets for the products, Ms. Hue now takes care of the materials and selling the products, while the women only come to get them, sew and finish them.

Thanks to Ms. Hue's quick thinking, the conical hat product has been recognized by Gia Vien district as a 3-star OCOP product and is present in many provinces and cities across the country. Since the establishment of the Cooperative, the number of products has doubled, at times tripled compared to before. It is estimated that the Cooperative sells 60-100 conical hats every day, creating stable jobs for 32 members.

"I am planning to open a shop to introduce conical hats in the village communal house, and at the same time connect to build a tour to learn about and experience traditional craft village products. If this happens, Gia Vuong's conical hats will increasingly reach further and increase in value, creating more jobs for local workers, especially female workers" - Ms. Hue shared.

Ms. Lan and Ms. Hue are two of many examples of women in the province who have strived to overcome difficulties and barriers in life, persevered with their goals and successfully started a business. Ms. Vu Thi Ha, Vice President of the Provincial Women's Union, said: Along with the aspirations of women themselves, in recent times, to support women to confidently start a business, the Provincial Women's Union at all levels has implemented many programs and plans to guide and support. In particular, the Prime Minister's Project "Supporting Women to Start a Business in the 2017-2025 period" has been implemented by the Provincial Women's Union with a variety of forms such as: Supporting loans, organizing seminars, communication, training, creating conditions for participation in product displays, trade promotion fairs inside and outside the province... After more than 5 years of implementation, the Project has helped thousands of women in the province to start a business with many creative ideas in all fields. In 2023 alone, implementing the Project, district-level units have provided capacity building training and support to over 300 women to start businesses. The Associations at all levels also coordinated to organize 6 training courses on business skills of local specialties, application of digital technology , e-commerce in production and business for 700 female business owners, Cooperatives, and Cooperatives. Coordinated with the Provincial Cooperative Union to advise and support the establishment and launch of 4 Cooperatives and 6 Cooperatives; supported business registration and the recognition process of 16 OCOP products... Thereby, a number of product consumption contracts were signed between companies and cooperatives, cooperatives, and enterprises managed by women, creating stable conditions for product output, contributing to supporting women to start businesses and start successful businesses.

Hong Giang

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